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Solomon Stoddard, 1643–1729

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2011

Perry Miller
Perry Miller
Affiliation:
Harvard University
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Extract

The town of Northampton was settled in 1654, by pioneers coming up the valley from Connecticut. The physical tasks of the first years kept them from forming a church, but in 1659 they called Eleazar Mather to be their parson, who came with his bride Esther, daughter of the Reverend John Warham of Windsor. Mathers were either long or very short lived; Eleazar died on July 24, 1669, leaving Esther a widow of twenty-five, with three children and an estate of £524, of which £60 were in books, and Northampton went in search of a new pastor. In the forthright New England of the seventeenth century there was a method in such situations so frequently observed that it might almost be called a custom. When a minister died, after a town had invested in him to the extent of land and a house, and the widow was of marriageable age, they summoned a young bachelor to the pulpit. A few months after Eleazar's death, Solomon Stoddard, eight years out of Harvard, came by invitation to exhibit a sample of his preaching; on March 18, 1670, he married Esther Mather. She bore him twelve children and in her old age, though very “lame of the Sciatica,” she still was spinning “at the Linen-wheel”; she outlived her husband by seven years and died in 1736 at the age of ninety-two.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , October 1941 , pp. 277 - 320
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1941

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References

1 Unless otherwise noted, facts concerning Stoddard in Northampton are from Trumbull, James R., History of Northampton, Northampton, 1893.Google Scholar

2 Samuel Sewall, Diary, III, 101 (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., Ser. V, Vol. 7).

3 Sibley, John L., Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University, II (1881), 101.Google Scholar

4 Travels in New-England and New York, New Haven (1821–22), I, 331;Google Scholar also quoted in Trumbull, History of Northampton, II, 54.

5 Cf. letter of Warham Mather, Stoddard's step-son, to his uncle, Increase Mather, July 6, 1688: “My father's family is in health, after their affliction by the meazels. God hath added to our sisters by a 9th, Hannah by name” (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., Ser. IV, Vol. 8, 671).

6 Joseph Nash, An Elegy Upon the much Lamented Decease of the Reverend & Excellent Mr. Solomon Stoddard [1729].

7 MS., Massachusetts Historical Society.

8 MHS Coll., Ser. IV, Vol. 2, 235–37.

9 MS., Oct. 19, 1685, Massachusetts Historical Society.

10 MHS Coll., Ser. IV, Vol. 8, 586–87.

11 Nash, Elegy.

12 Williston Walker, The Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism, 1893, pp. 418–19.

13 Cf. Morison, S. E., Harvard College in the Seventeenth Century, 1936, II, 465 ff.Google Scholar

14 Sewall, Diary, II, 190–91 (MHS Coll., Ser. V, Vol. 6).

15 ibid., p. 192.

16 ibid., Vol. III, 153.

17 MHS Coll., Ser. VI, Vol. 2, 131.

18 ibid., pp. 259–60.

19 Colman, Benjamin, The Faithful Ministers of Christ mindful of their own Death, Boston, 1729, p. 2.Google Scholar

20 Nash, Elegy

21 Boston Weekly News Letter, Feb. 20, 1729 (quoted in Trumbull, History of Northampton, II, 62).

22 MS., Massachusetts Historical Society.

23 Colman, The Faithful Minister, p. 24.

24 The Safety of Appearing at the Day of Judgment, 2nd ed., Boston, 1729, p. 164.Google Scholar

25 ibid., p. 31

26 The Safety of Appearing, p. 68.

27 ibid., p. 226.

28 ibid., p. 80.

29 ibid., p. 164.

30 ibid., p. 223.

31 ibid., p. 87.

32 Willard, Samuel, A Compleat Body of Divinity, Boston, 1726, p. 255.Google Scholar

33 The Safety of Appearing, p. 3.

34 ibid., p. 274.

35 ibid., p. 13.

36 The Safety of Appearing, p. 109.

37 ibid., p. 275.

38 ibid., p. 260; cf. pp. 20–52.

39 ibid., p. 103.

40 ibid., pp. 279–80.

41 Miller, Perry, “The Half–Way Covenant,” New Eng. Quar., 6 (1933), 670–715;Google Scholar Williston Walker, Creeds and Platforms, pp. 244–87.

42 Allin, John, Animadversions upon the Antisynodalia Americana, Cambridge, 1664, p. 6.Google Scholar

43 Quoted in Increase Mather, The First Principles of New-England, Concerning the Subject of Baptisme & Communion of Churches, Cambridge, 1675, Postscript, p. 5.Google Scholar

44 Mather, Increase, A Discourse Concerning the Subject of Baptisme, Cambridge, 1675, pp. 31–32.Google Scholar

45 Miller, , “Puritan Theory of the Sacraments,” Catholic Historical Review, 22 (1937), 409–25.Google Scholar

46 Mitchell, Jonathan, Nehemiah on the Wall in Troublesome Times (preached 1667), Cambridge, 1671, pp. 28–29.Google Scholar

47 Shepard, Thomas, Eye-Salve, Or a Watch-Word From our Lord Iesus Christ unto his Churches, Cambridge, 1673, p. 46 [misnumbered 38].Google Scholar

48 Cf. Cotton Mather, Things for a Distress'd People to think upon, 1696, pp. 18–21; Terribilia Dei, 1697, pp. 51–52; Magnalia (1853–55), II, 493.

49 Samuel Willard, The Movrners Cordial, 1691, p. 76.

50 Joshua Moody, The Great Sin of Formality in God's Worship, 1691, p. 24.

51 Willard, The Peril of the Times, 1700, pp. 64–65.

52 Cotton Mather, Fair Weather, 1692, p. 3.

53 Increase Mather, Practical Truth's, Tending to Promote Holiness (1st ed., 1682), 1704, pp. 39–40.

54 Peter Thacher, Unbelief Detected and Condemned, 1708, p. 35.

55 Cotton Mather, A Companion for Communicants, 1690, pp. 79–80.

56 ibid., p. 68.

57 ibid., p. 92.

58 Hancock MS., Harvard College Library, p. 95.

59 John Allin, on November 3, in MS. Sermons, Sept. 19-Dec. 15, 1689, Harvard College Library.

60 Cotton Mather, A Companion for Communicants, p. 78.

61 Samuel Willard, Some Brief Sacramental Meditations (1st ed., 1711), 1743, pp. 41 ff.

62 Peter Thacher, Unbelief Detected, p. 41.

63 Trumbull, History of Northampton, I, 201–02, 213.

64 Trumbull, History of Northampton, I, 215–17.

65 ibid., I, 213–14.

66 ibid., I, 214; II, 54.

67 Dwight, Sereno E., The Life of President Edwards, New York, 1830, p. 463.Google Scholar

68 Increase Mather, A Discourse Concerning the Danger of Apostacy (delivered May 23, 1677; 1st ed., 1679), 2nd ed., 1685, pp. 116–17.

69 ibid., pp. 116, 118.

70 Williston Walker, The Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism, pp. 418–19.

71 The Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism, pp. 419, 433.

72 Stoddard, An Appeal to the Learned, Boston, 1709, pp. 93–94. For Stoddard the issue was whether “persons should make a Relation of the work of Gods Spirit upon their hearts, in order to coming into full Communion,” or “Whether those Professors of Religion as are of good Conversation, are not to be admitted.... Mr. Mather held the Negative; I laboured to make good the Affirmative.” Partisans of Increase Mather were later assured by him that Stoddard's account of “the blotting out” of this clause was grossly mistaken, and they asked how Stoddard, after voting with the Synod, could compound with his conscience, since the Synod clearly meant that a work of grace should be examined before the admission (An Appeal, Of some of the Unlearned [1709], p. 17).

73 MHS Coll., Ser. IV, Vol. 8, pp. 83–84.

74 Ecclesiastes, Boston, 1697.

75 Magnalia, II, 67–79.

76 Cf. especially the life of Eliot, ibid., I, 554; also II, 244–47; II, 656: “Where a mighty body of people in a country are violently set upon running down the ancient church state in that country, and are violent for the hedge about the communion at the Lord's Table to be broken down … the Churches there are not far from a tremendous convulsion,” etc., etc.

77 Cotton Mather, Companion for Communicants, pp. 54–55, 87 and passim; cf; Blessed Unions, 1692, pp. 59–60; Things for a Distress'd People, 1696, pp. 17–18. Thirty Important Cases, 1699, pp. 8–12; Increase Mather, David Serving his Generation, 1698, p. 22; The Surest Way to the Greatest Honour, 1699, pp. 9–10.

78 Taylor MS. (as transcribed by Mr. Thomas H. Johnson, through whose courtesy I am allowed to use the quotation).

79 The Safety of Appearing, p. 285.

80 Cotton Mather, A Companion for Communicants, pp. 42–48.

81 Increase and Cotton Mather, “A Defence of Evangelical Churches” in Quick, John, The Young Man's Claim unto the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, Boston, 1700, p. 22.Google Scholar

82 ibid., p. 22.

83 The principal titles in the controversy are:

Increase Mather, The Order of the Gospel, Boston, 1700.

Stoddard, , The Doctrine of Instituted Churches, Boston, 1700Google Scholar; London, 1700.

Quick, John, The Young Man's Claim unto the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper (1st ed., London, 1691), 2nd ed., Boston, 1700Google Scholar, with preface, “A Defence of Evangelical Churches,” by Increase and Cotton Mather, pp. 1–59.

Doolittle, Thomas, A Treatise Concerning the Lords Supper, 19th ed., Boston, 1700.Google Scholar

Higginson, John and Hubbard, William, A Testimony to the Order of the Gospel In the Churches of New-England, Boston, 1701.Google Scholar

Stoddard, , The Way for a People to Live Long in the Land that God Hath given them, Boston, 1703.Google Scholar

Stoddard, , The Inexcusableness of Neglecting the Worship of God, under A Pretence of being in an Unconverted Condition, Boston, 1708.Google Scholar

Increase Mather, A Dissertation, wherein The Strange Doctrine Lately Published in a Sermon, The Tendency of which, is, to Encourage Unsanctified Persons (while such) to Approach the Holy Table of the Lord, is Examined and Confuted, Boston, 1708.

Mather, Increase, “An Advertisement Directed to the Communicants in the Churches of New-England,” in the 20th ed. of Doolittle, A Treatise, Boston, 1708.Google Scholar

Stoddard, An Appeal to the Learned. Being a Vindication of the Right of Visible Saints to the Lords Supper, Though they be destitute of a Saving Work of God's Spirit on their Hearts, Boston, 1709.Google Scholar

An Appeal, Of some of the Unlearned, both to the Learned and Unlearned [Boston, 1709].Google Scholar

Cf. also Cotton Mather, American Tears upon the Ruines of the Greek Churches, 1701, pp. 47–55; Increase Mather, Ichabod, 1702, pp. 40, 78–79; Cotton Mather, Maschil, 1702, pp. 92–95; Jonathan Russell, A Plea for the Righteousness of God, 1704, p. 21; Samuel Mather, The Self-Justiciary Convicted and Condemned, 1707, pp. 14–19, Appendix; Cotton Mather, Temple Opening, 1709, pp. 11–16.

Stoddard added fuel to the flames in 1707 by coming out in favor of Governor Dudley at the time of the Vetch affair, when the Mathers were fighting him. Though Increase never surrendered (cf. Elijah's Mantle, 1722, p. 15), the controversy died down after 1710, with each champion holding his own district, and in 1714 Increase was ready to write a preface for Stoddard's Guide to Christ, saying, “It is known, that in some Points (not Fundamentals in Religion) I differ from this beloved Author; Nevertheless (as when there was a difference of Opinion between Jerom and Austin) Jerom said for all that, 7 cannot but love Christ in Austin; so do I say concerning my Brother Stoddard” (p. viii). Significantly enough, in 1721, when Increase was fighting for inoculation, he took special care that his two principal opponents in New England should be mobilized on his side: “Also we hear that the Reverend and Learned Mr. Solomon Stoddard of Northampton concurs with us; so doth the Reverend Mr. Wise of Ipswich” (Several Reasons Proving that Inoculation or Transplanting the Small Pox, is a Lawful Practice, 1721).

84 Diary, MHS Coll., Ser. VII, Vol. 7, 384–88.

85 ibid., 363–64, 393–94.

86 Stoddard, The Way for a People to Live Long in the Land that God Hath given them, pp. 24–25.

87 Increase Mather, Practical Truths, 1704, p. 74.

88 Stoddard, The Inexcusableness of Neglecting the Worship of God, pp. 17–18.

89 Stoddard, An Appeal to the Learned, pp. 20–21.

90 ibid., pp. 18–19.

91 ibid., p. 76.

92 ibid., p. 73.

93 The Doctrine of Instituted Churches, p. 6.

94 The Inexcusableness of Neglecting the Worship of God, p. 3.

95 An Appeal to the Learned, p. 9.

96 ibid., p. 45; cf. Samuel Hopkins' comment, 1765: “So that they who really reject Jesus Christ, and dislike the gospel way of salvation in their hearts, and know that this is true of themselves, may make the profession without lying and hypocrisy” (Trumbull, History of Northampton, II, 55).

97 Doctrine of Instituted Churches, p. 19.

98 ibid., p. 20.

99 Doctrine of Instituted Churches, p. 22.

100 An Appeal to the Learned, p. 25.

101 ibid., p. 96.

102 ibid., pp. 90–91.

103 Doctrine of Instituted Churches, p. 22.

104 An Appeal to the Learned, p. 63.

105 The Inexcusableness of Neglecting the Worship of God, p. 26.

106 ibid., p. 18.

107 ibid., p. 19.

108 ibid., pp. 20–22.

109 Doctrine of Instituted Churches, p. 8.

110 ibid., pp. 7–8; Appealto the Learned, pp. 69–70.

111 Doctrine of Instituted Churches, p. 8.

112 Increase and Cotton Mather, “Defence of Evangelical Churches,” in Quick, The Young Man's Claim, p. 37.

113 An Appeal to the Learned, p. 98.

114 Doctrine of Instituted Churches, p. 12.

115 ibid., p. 12.

116 “An Examination of the Power of the Fraternity,” Appendix to The Presence of Christ with the Ministers of the Gospel, Boston, 1718, pp. 10–11.Google Scholar

117 Doctrine of Instituted Churches, pp. 25–27.

118 Doctrine of Instituted Churches, p. 34.

119 Increase Mather, Dissertation, pp. 28–29.

120 Cotton Mather, Meat out of the Eater, 1703, p. 43.

121 Diary, MHS Coll., Ser. VII, Vol. 7, 385–86.

122 Increase Mather, Ichabod, 1702, pp. 86–87; Cotton Mather, A Pillar of Gratitude, 1700, p. 26; the Mathers so overdid the denunciation that an election preacher in 1705 protested against those who brand such as differ from them “with the ill Titles of Apostates, and Subverters of the Order of the Gospel” (Joseph Easterbrook, Abraham the Passenger, 1705, p. 19).

123 Stoddard, , The Danger of Speedy Degeneracy, Boston, 1705, p. 15.Google Scholar

124 Stoddard, Examination of the Power, pp. 1–2.

125 Williams, William, The Death of a Prophet Lamented, Boston, 1729, p. 24.Google Scholar

126 The Inexcusableness of Neglecting the Worship of God, Preface.

127 An Appeal to the Learned, A 2, recto.

128 Increase Mather, Dissertation, p. 85.

129 Stoddard, An Appeal to the Learned, A 2, verso.

130 An Appeal, Of Some of the Unlearned, pp. 2–3.

131 William Williams, Death of a Prophet, p. 24.

132 Guide to Christ (1st ed., 1714), 1735, Preface, p. 8.

133 The Defects of Preachers Reproved (New London, 1724), 2nd ed., Boston, 1747, pp. 5–6.Google Scholar His opinion of Harvard was implied in his election sermon of 1703: “'tis not worth the while for persons to be sent to the Colledge to learn to Complement men, and Court Women; they should be sent thither to prepare them for Publick Service, and had need be under the over-sight of wise and honest men” (The Way for a People, p. 13).

134 Williams, Death of a Prophet, p. 26; cf. Nash's Elegy;

He fish'd for Souls, through Grace he many caught,

Into his Net great draughts the Spirit brought, etc.

135 The Safety of Appearing, pp. i–iv.

136 Guide to Christ, p. 89; cf. The Presence of Christ with the Ministers of the Gospel, Boston, 1718, pp. 26–28Google Scholar; The Defects of Preachers Reproved, pp. 4–5.

137 Cf. his A Treatise Concerning Conversion, Boston, 1719Google Scholar, for his analysis of regeneration as a cataclysmic and overwhelming experience.

138 Increase Mather in Quick, Young Man's Claim, pp. 46–47; Stoddard apparently experienced a profound conversion “upon his Entrance into the Ministry; which Work was so clearly carried on, and made so deep an Impression upon his Spirit, that he always remembr'd it, and often spake of it” (Williams, Death of a Prophet, p. 25).

139 Those Taught by God the Father, To Know God the Son; are Blessed, Boston, 1712, p. 17.Google Scholar

140 Three Sermons Lately Preach'd at Boston, Boston, 1717, p. 30.Google Scholar

141 Stoddard, Those Taught by God, p. 18.

142 Williams, Death of a Prophet, p. 28.

143 Sibley, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University, II, 113–14.

144 The Defects of Preachers Reproved, p. 12.

145 Sereno E. Dwight, Life of President Edwards, pp. 468–66.